1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates a bottle-type plastic container having a container body that is partly recessed inwards to afford a grip region.
2. Description of Related Art
As a bottle-type container for beverages, alcoholic drinks, etc., a relatively large size plastic container is often used, having a capacity of 2,700 cm3, for example, and produced by a biaxial orientation blow molding process or the like.
The body of such container is large and heavy in use, and is thus not always easy to stably hold by a single band. Therefore, it has been a conventional practice to provide such a container with a separately prepared grip member that is fixedly secured to the body. However, provision of separate grip member is not very suitable solution from the viewpoint of reduction in production steps, cost and material. Furthermore, so-called separated collection of waste materials becomes difficult or time consuming, particularly when the body and the grip member are comprised of mutually different materials and, hence, the grip member has to be removed from the body before disposition.
These problems can be effectively eliminated by a pinch grip-type container including a body that is partly recessed inwards to afford a grip region, as disclosed, for example, in JP-4-33,238Y2 or JP-4-33,239Y2. In this instance, the container body has surface portions that are recessed inwards and opposed to each other to define a grip region therebetween, which is configured so as to be engaged by consumer""s hand. Such an arrangement proved to be highly advantageous in that a plastic container with an integral grip region can be produced efficiently and at low cost, without requiring a separate grip member to be prepared in advance and subsequently connected to the container body.
On the other hand, however, there is a problem in the pinch grip-type container in that, depending upon size of consumer""s hand, the container may not be readily and stably held by hand. It is highly desirable to eliminate such a problem of the prior art.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved bottle-type plastic container, which eliminates the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and which includes an integral grip portion allowing the container to be readily and stably held by consumer""s hand, regardless of size of hand.
To this end, according to the present invention, a bottle-type plastic container comprises a body and an opening at one end of the container that allows liquid contents to be charged into the container and discharged therefrom. The container body has surface portions that are recessed inwards and opposed to each other to define a grip region therebetween. The grip region has a width that changes gradually in a longitudinal direction of the container body.
With the above-mentioned arrangement of the bottle-type plastic container according to the present invention, since the grip region has a width that changes gradually in a longitudinal direction of the container body, it is readily possible for the consumer to find out an optimum position where the grip region is engaged and held by hand, regardless of the size of hand, by moving the hand relative to, the grip region, in the longitudinal direction of the container body either upwards or downwards.
It is preferred that the width of the grip region gradually decreases toward an upper end or a lower end of the container body.
The container according to the present invention may have an inner volume within a range of 1,800-4,000 cm3.